Hoffa: A Vote for Job-Killing Trade Deals is a Vote Against American Workers

The following is an official statement today from Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa on the union’s opposition to trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia:

“A vote for these trade deals is a vote against American workers. These deals are nothing but giveaways and protections for the multinational corporations that Americans are protesting on Wall Street and in dozens of other cities. They amount to an Offshoring Bill of Rights.

“These proposed agreements will damage our economy, raise unemployment and further lower workers’ wages.

The South Korea trade deal falls short and has almost no union support. The largest deal since NAFTA, it would cost tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, harm some of our highest-paying industries and give foreign multinationals new rights to challenge our laws.

Union leaders are still being murdered in Colombia because the government won’t prosecute the killers, according to Human Rights Watch. A trade deal that rewards Colombia would be unconscionable.

A deal with the notorious tax haven of Panama would encourage U.S. companies to move jobs to that country and elsewhere, and encourage banks to set up subsidiaries there to avoid regulation.

“Members of Congress should also know that the last piece of NAFTA is about to be put into place – opening the border to dangerous Mexican trucks. Thousands of American trucking and warehouse jobs will be lost on top of the 5 million manufacturing jobs already destroyed since NAFTA.

“The Teamsters will hold members of Congress accountable at the ballot box for their votes on these ill-conceived trade deals.”

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information.